It's more common than you might think. (The flying commercial part, not the Words With Friends part, though other celebrities have been kicked off of planes for refusing to turn off their phones, including Josh Duhamel.)

Think of it this way, she tells me: "It's the difference between a renting a house and renting a room in a hotel. The commercial flight is full service, it's comfortable, you can walk around. "Sometimes you don't want to hassle with hiring your own crew; you just want to stay in a hotel."

As for exactly what happened, I have a good guess:

We know Baldwin was in Los Angeles to receive an award from People For the American Way. If the charity paid his way—and they tend to do that for celebrities traveling at their behest—they probably couldn't afford to accommodate Baldwin on a private jet!